Origins

Elsevier took its name (in modernised form) from the historic Dutch publishing house of the same name (see House of Elzevir). The Elzevir family had operated as booksellers and publishers in the Netherlands. Its founder, Lodewijk Elzevir, (1542–1617) lived in Leiden and established the business in 1580.

Elsevier company

Elsevier may be the world’s largest provider of science and health information. It publishes about 250'000 articles per year in 2000 journals[1]. Its archives contain 7 million past publications. Total yearly downloads amount to 240 million.[2]

Economic indicators

Elsevier is part of the Reed Elsevier group. In terms of revenue, it accounts for 28% of the total (₤1.5b of 5.4 billions in 2006). In terms of operating profits, it represents a much bigger fraction of 44% (₤395 of 880 millions)[3]. Adjusted operating profits have risen by 10% between 2005 and 2006.[4]

Company figures

7,000 journal editors, 70,000 editorial board members and 200,000 reviewers are working for Elsevier.[1] Each year, the company publishes the original work of more than 500,000 authors in 2,000 journals, 17,000 books, 18 new journals and 1,900 new books.[1]

With its headquarters based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Elsevier employs more than 7,000 people in over 70 offices across 24 countries.[1]

Elsevier's operating divisions

Elsevier has two distinct operating divisions: Science & Technology and Health Sciences. Products and services of both include electronic and print versions of journals, textbooks and reference works and cover the health, life, physical and social sciences.

Criticism

In recent years the subscription rates charged by the company for its journals have been criticised; some very large journals (those with more than 5000 articles) charge subscription prices as high as $14,000, far above average. The company has been criticised not just by advocates of a switch to the so-called open-access publication model, but also by universities whose library budgets make it difficult for them to afford current journal prices. For example, a resolution by Stanford University's senate singled out Elsevier as an example of a publisher of journals which might be "disproportionately expensive compared to their educational and research value" and which librarians should consider dropping, and encouraged its faculty "not to contribute articles or editorial or review efforts to publishers and journals that engage in exploitive or exorbitant pricing".[8] Similar guidelines and criticism of Elsevier's pricing policies have been passed by the University of California, Harvard University and Duke University.[9]

An editorial in the medical journal The Lancet in September 2005 sharply criticized the journal's owner and publisher, Reed Elsevier, for its participation in the international arms trade.[16] Specifically, one of Elsevier's subsidiaries organized the Defence Systems and Equipment International Exhibition(DSEi), a large arms fair in the U.K. The authors, appealing to the Hippocratic oath called for the publisher to divest itself of all business interests that threaten human, and especially civilian, health and well-being.[17]

In the March 2007 issue of the The Lancet, leading medical centers including the UK Royal College of Physicians urged Reed Elsevier to sever weapons ties. Doctors spoke out against Reed's role in the involvement of the organizing of exhibitions for the arms trade.[18] Reed Elsevier’s chief executive responded in June 2007 with a written statement[19], welcomed by authors of the petition,[20] announcing that it would sell the part of the company which handled military trade shows. Elsevier failed to sell off its exhibitions arm by the end of 2007[21][22]
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Imprints

Imprints are brand names in publishing. Elsevier uses its imprints to market to different consumer segments. Many of them have previously been the company names of publishers that were purchased by Reed Elsevier.